


Zoommates

by Nny11



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, COVID-19, Catra is a Fashion Disaster AND a Fashion Icon, Catra is a Long Haul WLW, Crushes, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Glimmer is a U-Haul WLW, I am really not sure how to tag this which is kind of hilarious ngl, It's all via Zoom until that last bit sooooo, Long-Distance Relationship (sort of), Melog is a little shit, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, Pandemic Living, Strangers to Lovers, cursing like a sailor, no editing we die like meh, sorry I don't make the rules - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28705503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nny11/pseuds/Nny11
Summary: Once the pandemic hits, Glimmer finds herself taking on one of their more prickly clients only to slowly fall in love.
Relationships: Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 84





	Zoommates

**Author's Note:**

> So I started this back in April and then just...never finished it till today? It was really interesting to re-read what I'd written when this whole thing was still new and unknown. I mostly left it the way it was since it was wild to see. Anyhow, enjoy some disaster wlw falling in love over zoom.
> 
> Also, RIP to Banbo. You were a wonderful baby boy Banbo, but then S5 came out and Melog now exists so you gotta go son.

The funny thing was that, at the end of the day, Glimmer preferred working from home. No commute through god awful traffic. No trying to find a place to eat lunch uninterrupted, that _wasn’t_ her car. No random workers coming up to her desk because “they needed a walk” or to ask her to fix a printer, or worse, show them how to save a document for the fifth time. No new employees sitting down behind her to whisper sing along to their terrible music, so Glimmer couldn’t even chat with her friends online. No more glare on her computer screen for half the day.

It was **amazing**.

But, the down side was that Netossa could no longer meet with one of their long time clients twice a week as she didn’t have a strong and stable enough internet connection at home to cut it. Glimmer had been shaken by that fact, but apparently Netossa and her wife spent their time doing things offline while at home. It was a situation Glimmer couldn’t envision for herself. Although, to be fair, Glimmer lived in a small shitty apartment where she was rarely able to meet up with her friends, and those two lived in a large house on the far outskirts of the city where they did a lot of cute homesteading things. 

So Glimmer had volunteered to take over Netossa’s calls at the low, low price of getting to cuddle a baby goat and pet their chickens in the future. She should have also requested some fresh homemade cheese, but she hadn’t known that Spinerella was basically a chef when she made the deal.

Netossa had warned her up and down that their client was cold and calculating. Like a shark that could smell blood in the water and had no problem exploiting someone’s fear to get a better deal for herself. A shark who also wouldn’t take personal responsibility and always blamed the products or other employees. Basically she’d tried to say the client is a raging bitch without cursing and while Glimmer applauded the effort, it hadn’t been necessary. She always enjoyed a good fight, especially with someone willing to use underhanded methods because then Glimmer could use them without feeling guilty too.

The first call on Tuesday afternoon had almost caught her off guard.

Glimmer’s 15 minute reminder went off and she was suddenly very aware that she was still in her PJs and had decided to rock her bedhead for the day. A whirlwind of effort and panic later, Glimmer was wearing one of her nice work blouses and had at least gotten her hair neat and orderly even if it was unstyled beyond a small clip to keep it out of her eyes. She logged onto zoom, cursed her home computer for being so fucking slow, and finally made it online.

“You’re late.” Was the first thing the other woman said on seeing her. 

The client was dressed impeccably, she wore a very expensive looking suit and tie. Her hair was nearly a mane of curls but clearly well taken care of. Her wingtips were killer and highlighted her green and blue eyes.

_Oh no._

“By, like, two minutes.” Glimmer said and wished she could take it back.

The woman narrowed her eyes, long acrylic nails tapping on her desktop. “Which is still late.”

So she was a hot raging bitch...Glimmer was fucked.

“My apologies,” she said with as much cheer as she could manage while grinding her teeth, “shall we get started then?”

The call was almost pathetically uneventful until the very end.

“Thank you and we’ll talk again on Friday Miss, uh,” Glimmer’s brain helpfully supplied that Netossa had never given her a name.

“Wow, first day going rough huh princess?” The woman smirked, eyes lighting up like a cat that had caught an unfortunate bird.

“My first day was years ago and my coworker forgot to tell me your name.”

There was a long pause before the woman said, “Wonderful, we’ll chat Friday Princess.”

Oh god, she’d volunteered to talk to this asshole twice a week about inane little details that didn’t matter? She was going to demand that homemade cheese and at least two baby goat snuggling sessions because this was going to be hell for the foreseeable future.

And it was, for the first two weeks.

On their sixth call, the formula changed.

Glimmer had her screen share on, and had been walking the woman (who still wouldn’t give up her name and refused to call her anything except princess) through the new online features being implemented for the foreseeable future. The woman was usually very good at muting her mic when she wasn’t talking, but either forgot or didn’t realize she wasn’t muted. 

And that her camera was still on. 

And for some reason seemed to think Glimmer wouldn’t notice, which, fair. She normally found herself looking at her own video instead of the speaker’s.

“Hey!” The woman snapped, her voice full of anger strong enough to shock Glimmer to her bones. Especially as she’d thought it was directed at her. “Melog….I swear to god, don’t you fucking dare. You know better!”

Glimmer coughed, squinted at the small corner of her screen where she could see the woman, who was twisted around backwards glaring at the wall. No, wait, glaring at a cat who was standing precariously on top of the mounted flat screen TV, that was usually hidden behind the woman’s voluminous hair. The cat meowed, a pathetic scratchy high pitched thing.

“Baby...baaaaaaby, baby boy, do not do this to your mother. I love you, please come down from there-DO NOT CLIMB ON THAT!” The cat paused, one paw resting on top of a painting. “Sweet boy! Mommy’s sweet, baby boy! Do not do that please, I love you, don’t do this to me, oh my god I’m supposed to be working you little shit. Melog! Pspspspspsps! Melog I will give you fucking anything to get off of that- tuna for a week! **”**

The cat meowed and jumped down with a loud thunk, brushing the painting and causing it to swing back and forth.

“You will make the most **fetching** pair of gloves you little asshole. People will see them and say, ‘Oh Catra, those are the softest most beautiful gloves I’ve ever seen what are they made from’ and I’ll fucking tell them NAUGHTY CHILDREN!”

Glimmer snorted, eyes going wide as Catra whirled around to stare at her computer with a wild blush. And then she lost it, Glimmer doubled over laughing way too hard at some stupid bullshit because she was tired and bored and lonely.

“Oh my god, my boss is gonna kill me.” Catra whispered, barely audible above Glimmer’s cackling. “Ma’am, I am so sorry for this, I know this was very unprofessional of me and- NO!”

And with that Catra had rocketed out of her seat, there was the sound of more pathetic mewling, cursing, and finally Catra stomped back into screen. Standing far enough back that Glimmer could see she was wearing a pair of fluffy cat slippers and bright red shorts covered in spaceships, as well as her usual very fancy looking shirt, vest, tie, and jacket. In her arms was Melog, a russian blue who was being cradled like a baby. His little paws up in the air as Catra leaned in towards the camera. “I am going to publicly shame you. You are an awful child, and now everyone will know.”

Melog began purring loud enough for the mic to pick it up.

“God damn it- this is a punishment hug, do **not** enjoy it!”

By the time Glimmer got her laughter under control the cat was gone but for the splotchy patches of fur he’d left on Catra’s top and Glimmer happily peeled off her work blouse to be in her much more comfortable band tee.

“...holy shit Sparkles I thought you were stripping for me over a cat.”

“Fuck you, if you can wear spaceship shorts I can wear my tee shirt!”

The calls took on a much more informal air after that. 

The very next time Glimmer decided to wear a nice top, but not a work nice top, and threw on a headband to keep her hair out of her face. Only getting nervous right as the call was connecting. What if Catra was still dressed nice? What if the last call had been a fluke? When it finally connected Glimmer was greeted by a rat’s nest of hair and Catra wearing a tank top that showed off her surprisingly bara shoulders and muscles.

_Oh shit I forgot she’s hot!_

After that it was a complete spiral of decorum. Both showing up in whatever they felt like wearing, Melog making several more appearances after Glimmer complained she wasn’t allowed to have ANY pets, and the tone went completely off kilter. Whatever fear Catra had of her boss apparently handled effectively when Glimmer had called someone a dumbass who could fall through a barrel of tits and come out sucking their thumb. Which was absolutely true! 

God, how did they function when their two braincells never fucking **_met_ **!

Not that Catra didn’t have her own moments of vulgar brilliance.

“And this, officer, is the bitch I was telling you about,” Catra hissed as her cursor whipped around the error screen she’d been encountering all week.

When Glimmer’s long time fix failed to work she’d simply stared at the screen dead eyed and sighed, “Why does god hate me?”

“He forgot to nerf your stats and in typical bastardly fashion is punishing you for his own sins.”

It was friendly and fun, and with the two of them constantly joking and bickering it was never boring. Glimmer happily spent extra time helping Catra or preparing for their meetings. The weeks flew by, and right when Glimmer started to worry about having to say goodbye to Catra, the state announced an extension on their shelter at home warning and her job subsequently told them all to stay home even after it expired. 

It wasn’t that she was happy about it, people were _dying_ out there. 

But she was glad for a reason to keep talking with Catra.

One afternoon they’d gotten off task as Catra showed Glimmer a video her niblings had filmed for her of them singing some pop tune she’d never heard of completely off key, and that had devolved into sharing a series of family photos until Glimmer’s timer went off. 

“Shit, hang on, I gotta save my dinner real quick!” It was only once she’d sat back down with her stew, spoon hanging out of her mouth as she balanced several slices of bread on her bowl to carry a beer in her other hand, that she considered that this was, technically, a professional business call.

“Eh,” Catra shrugged, drinking something pinkish out of a glass that screamed irish coffee is my passion, “It’s 6:33, we’ve been off the clock for a while now. We’ve earned this. Now what the fuck is that and why does it look so delicious?”

When Catra revealed her sad bowl of plain mac and cheese Glimmer whined. “Noooooo, Catra, no! Nutrition and variety! Don’t you have any veggies or meat to put in that?”

She’d shrugged, pushing Melog off the desk when he got a little too bold while trying to eat her meal, “I mean, it’s the kind made of beans so it’s technically a vegetable. Stop it. Your face is doing that thing where it’s really obvious what you’re thinking.”

“It’s called a frown and yes I am! Please tell me you have more than mac and cheese to eat!”

Catra nodded, “Oh yeah! For sure. Uh, I’ve got some frosted flakes- yogurt’s healthy right? Bread, I make sandwiches okay. And, like, a shitwhack of ramen.”

Glimmer stared at her in horror.

“BWAHAHAHA! Oh man your face! Fuck! I’m dicking with you, Jesus, hakuna your tatas!” Catra was almost crying as she laughed. “Whooooo! I’ve got a tuna pesto still in the fridge and a friend is dropping off groceries for me tomorrow so I can make curry and salads. Relax _mom_!”

“I’ll kill you,” Glimmer wheezed, half laughing and half incredulous, “I don’t know who you are, but I will find you.”

“And when I do,” Catra cut in, “BAM! Whizz bang boom, straight to the moon!”

“No! ...I wouldn’t punch you past the stratosphere I promise!”

What had become informal became downright casual after that.

Catra was late for one meeting, Glimmer had feared the worst only to have the camera turn on to show a sweaty Catra in a crop top and very short shorts with a sweatband around her forehead. “I am so fucking sorry, I, UGH, it’s been a bitch of a day and I just needed to get some energy out and I totally lost track of time!”

 _Oh no she’s_ **_still fucking hot_ **!

“Oh, you work out?” Glimmer asked, staring blatantly at Catra’s ab lines. Not ripped to hell, a healthy layer of fat was there, but it looked like she’d be able to smoothly do an upside down sit up with weights and Glimmer kind of wanted to touch just a little bit. 

“...uh, yeah. I do high intensity training and I’m a, uh, I practice capoeira?”

“Dude, kick ass! I used to do taekwondo but took a break when I started working. I miss it.”

“Well why don’t you do it at home?”

Glimmer picked up her laptop to swing it around showing her space. “No room.”

“Bullshit! You’ve seen my dinky place and if I can fucking do rolê and balança in here you can do...whatever the hell you do in taekwondo. Kick things? Punching? I know that’s your favey fave.”

The meeting, suffice it to say, was more about how to easily rearrange a small apartment to practice martial arts and then a healthy debate on cardio versus weightlifting and anaerobic than it was about their latest software updates. 

Without the same abilities they had in office, their work had slowly dwindled to usually a dead crawl (and occasionally a wild hurricane of bullshit), but they continued to chat twice a week regardless. Simply using the pre-set time to complain about closures, talk through their concerns with the virus, and hotly debate going out to the store for groceries against delivery. And of course, salivating over favorite foods they were missing as local stores closed their doors both temporarily and for good.

“I mean, I hate to sound this way, but I’m guessing we’ve got at least two years like this before a vaccine is made. Sure, maybe we’ll be let out on occasion but it’ll spike again you know?” Catra was laying on her couch, laptop propped on a chair across from her. Melog lay making air biscuits on her stomach. “I feel like I’m gonna lose my fucking mind. I can’t really hang out with my friends and, look, maybe tmi in a way, but I am super touch starved and I need Scorpia to just fucking lay on top of me. Like, full body crush.”

“No I hear you. I think a year would be amazing, but it could easily stretch longer. But, you know, at this point anyone you know who isn’t infected, maybe you guys could get together sometimes? One on one?” Glimmer was painting her nails a new rainbow purple. Bow had stopped by a few days ago and the two had actually gotten to hug and gotten sappy and cried all over the other. Their first human contact in well over a month. They were both doing well with self isolating and decided they could risk it. It had been wonderful and so much more necessary than Glimmer had realized.

“Can’t. I’ve technically got a mild auto-immune disorder, thanks again for nothing mom, and I’m weirdly susceptible to upper respiratory. I get a cold and something else, usually bronchitis every winter. Coronavirus would take one look at me and be like, ‘it’s free real estate’.” Catra gave a half shrug, restlessly petting her cat and bouncing one foot. “But, I mean, I either go crazy and die in here or die out there if it’s not solved by then.”

“Don’t say that!” Glimmer said softly, making eye contact with Catra, who’s eyes were watering up. “Hey. Hey! No, oh sweetheart, I’m sorry...hey, I have an idea. Get a blanket. Like a really big puffy one.”

Catra swiped at her eyes and grumbled, “One it’s hot as balls and two I have a cat on me. I am legally required to stay here until he-”

They both watched as Melog stretched a little too far to knead his biscuits and fell right off both Catra and the couch with a whump. He almost bounced, and then stretched out as if that had been his plan all along.

“Blanket!”

“Fuck, fine! Bossy.” When Catra returned she awkwardly held up a bulky grey thing that was surprisingly small. “It’s my weighted blanket, shut up.”

“Oh! Does that work? I’ve been thinking about buying one for ages!”

“Yeah, I need this or I can’t sleep, but, uh, maybe get a lightweight one to see if you like it. Mine’s 25 pounds so…” Catra waited and then smiled a little watery at her. “What am I doing with this?”

“Right, okay, wrap it around yourself so you can pull the ends in so it kind of squeezes you.” Glimmer waited until Catra followed her instructions and then held her arms out wide. “On the count of three, pull it so it squeezes you because I’m giving you a virtual hug.”

Catra laughed, burying her face in the blanket before looking back up. “On three or after three?”

“Fuck you. One, two, HUG MOTHERFUCKER!” Glimmer swung her arms around to hug herself tightly. “Don’t you dare let go Catra, I am the hugger and I say when I’m done hugging you.”

Each time she started to let go, Glimmer would reverse course and complain until Catra was hugging herself again. Only stopping when Catra was grinning and laughing, complaining about the heat.

“Whenever you need a hug you tell me, and I gotchu bae!”

“...thanks princess.”

And there, in the shitty lighting of her tiny apartment, camera pixelating her oddly with all the glaring white light, Glimmer realized something. Not just that Catra was smoking, a thought that always caught her a little off guard. But that Catra was cute. And sweet. And silly and funny. And maybe, just maybe, Glimmer was falling a little bit in love.

“Hey, when this is over? I’m switching with Netossa for good, you’re only allowed to meet up with me for these things. Also? I’m gonna hug the fuck outta you so be prepared. Plan ahead.”

“Wear deodorant?” Catra snickered.

“Yes, perfume or cologne if you’ve got it. Make it special!”

“I think I’ve still got some cucumber melon body spray from high school around here somewhere.”

Glimmer scrunched her nose up. “Okay skip that, dab a little whiskey behind your ears or something.” 

“Embrace my inner alcoholic, nice!”

“Okay, right after I hug you I’m gonna punch you for all this self deprecation.”

“Oh I’m real scared of miss I Don’t Have Room to Practice!”

Glimmer rearranged her living room that evening and started working on her poomse again. At their next meeting Glimmer held up one finger to stop Catra from talking, backed up, and ran through her practical demonstration without care for her apartment neighbors listening to her kihap beyond a single thought of _please don’t call the police._

When she finished, despite her mild huffing and puffing Glimmer walked back to her laptop and jabbed a finger at Catra. “I will hug you, and then I will kick your ass!”

Catra, a little flushed and blinking rapidly, swallowed heavily. “Yeah. Okay. Sounds good.”

“...are you okay?” Glimmer asked.

Catra tensed up, full out blushing before she blustered, “Uh duh! I’m always great, what’s it to you punk? You wanna fight!? Square up!”

Most of that meeting was spent “dodging” one another’s finger pokes at their webcams.

“Hey,” Catra started, pausing awkwardly before shaking her head. Like she talked herself out of something. ‘You wanna watch a movie or something sometime, maybe?”

Glimmer blinked slowly, brain catching up a second later. “Uh, sure? What do you want to watch?”

“Not right now!” Catra chuckled. “I mean, okay, hear me out, Scorpia had a good idea and don’t you ever tell her I said that. What if we planned it out? Like, we can share screen or something, and both make popcorn. So it’s like, uh, like we’re actually hanging out?”

“Awww,” Glimmer smiled, already nodding as Catra sputtered.

“Don’t awww at me, it’s not a big deal, okay?”

“Two gals chilling online, miles apart cuz we’re both gay.”

Catra buried her face in her hands. “Oh my god, shut up. Also it’s ‘cuz we’re not gay’.”

“Nah bruh, hear me out. We’re women loving women and we prove we’re gay by both circling around and around again going, ‘she just likes me like a friend’!”

“Eh,” Catra wiggled a hand, “you strike me as more of a U-Haul type. Is there a bisexual version of the U-Haul lesbian trope? That’s you.”

“Whatever you long hauling dumbass.”

Still, they planned it out. Saturday night, a time they never spoke, rolled around to find them both in their comfiest PJs. Bowls of popcorn and whatever candy they had on hand with soda to wash it down. Both were propped up in their beds and Melog drapped himself like a high quality diamond necklace on Catra’s chest, forcing her to push his fluff out of the way for several minutes before he got up from all the shifting.

“I present to you,” Glimmer shared her screen, “The Rescuers!”

Catra squinted at her screen, cheek already bulging with popcorn before commenting, “Huh, this doesn’t look like I remember it.”

“Hmm?” Glimmer asked around her own mouthful.

“I mean, didn’t it open up with a giant eagle and that kid jumping off a cliff or something?”

“Oh yeah, the sequel did, I think.”

“Wait, wait, wait, pause! That was a sequel!?” Catra glared at her as she fished for her phone, “No way, I call bullshit!”

“...HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN THE RESCUERS!? It has Madame Medusa, the best villain ever!”

Catra tapped away before wheezing, “What the fuck, when did this come out, the seventies?”

“Yes and it’s a classic, now shut up and game on!”

Glimmer decided that despite Catra relentlessly mocking the music and her for singing along to the Rescue Aid Society theme, that she’d clearly enjoyed herself. Even if that mostly came from mocking Bernard and then wheezing about _something_ every time Medusa was on screen.

“Waitwaitwaitwait, back up, is that an NRA button!? Holy fuck!”

“Melog thinks the way I give him food is like her showing the fucking diamond. Here’s the quickest peak, now begone!”

“Why the fuckest hasn’t someone adopted Penny? I will adopt her and then burn the place to the ground. She can have McD’s whenever she wants because I am a just and loving parent. Melog can attest- OW CLAWS YOU BASTARD!”

And one movie became two, then again the next week, and the one after that. And the one after that too until it was just part of the routine. Catra had called it their double feature leaving Glimmer no choice but to play the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Movies became shows they liked, became shows they started together. Before she knew it, they had been talking for nearly half a year and she really couldn’t picture her life without Catra in it anymore.

She didn’t even care as Adora relentlessly teased her for falling in love _again_ (look Bow and Adora are also beautiful, hot, silly, sweet, smart, funny, and her type and that is not her fault), because apparently she and Catra were old friends from high school. And she, like, wanted that in so badly okay?

“Look,” Adora had rolled her eyes, “you know how I accidentally outed myself at school? Catra made it bearable, and you don’t just ditch someone who gave you a will to live. Honestly, if I’d known who she was at the start I would’ve called to harass her during one of your meetings! ...and, uh, also, you know, she’s, uhm, like, super gay.”

“Adora? I love you, but you are aware that Catra owns a leather vest and uses a wallet chain right? I haven’t seen her sit properly in a chair since we met. She literally said our software was homophobic because she forgot to save a document.”

“Uhm, yeah? And?”

Glimmer was sure she should get a medal for only lightly tapping her head against her desk instead of screaming. “Babe…”

“What? ...OH! _OH!_ Heh. Nice. WAITDON’THANGUPONM-” Adora frowned at her when Glimmer called her back a few seconds later. “See if I try to play ‘have you met my friend Glimmer’ again.”

And it was funny, because Glimmer already knew she was falling in love, but hearing someone else suggest that Catra might like her back, even in such an Adora Roundabout way, suddenly kicked her into high drive.

Glimmer choked when Catra _texted her_ while they were literally watching Xena (sometimes you admit to a personal failing as a queer person only to find another fool just like you out there) to complain that Glimmer was lusting too loudly for her to concentrate on the show.

Which she _had_ been right about, even if she hadn’t understood who Glimmer had actually been staring at so intently. It was a miracle that she hadn’t been caught right then.

The week after that she managed to get Adora to get flowers and a card from Perfuma’s struggling shop, and then got those sent to Scorpia who delivered them with the groceries. For some reason she hadn’t expected Catra to video call her in near tears because, and this is a direct quote, ‘ _How fucking dare you make me cry on this, the day of my birth?_ ’ And even though it ruined the clay mask Glimmer had just put on, she smiled brightly all the same because, and this is also a direct quote, ‘ _Well you fucking deserve it you wonderful motherfucker.’_

“...hey,” Catra almost whispered, their holiday special long done for the night while they sat with their cameras on in a comfortable silence. “When this is over, we need to meet up. Like this but, you know, in person.”

She spoke more to Melog than Glimmer, nervously playing with his ears and tail which he sedately allowed. Her brow was pinched and shoulders hunched, like she was expecting not just a no but a punch. 

“Oh please,” Glimmer started, well aware that she must look gooey and probably more in love than she should, “you think I’m going to let you live peacefully when this is done? It’s like you don’t even know me. I am going to show up and make you food, and take over your couch. I’d like to see you try and stop me!”

Catra blinked owlishly at her for a moment before her shock turned into something softer and warmer. “I guess I’ll have to now that you’re in practice again. Hate to get my teeth punched out.”

“Damn straight.”

“Glimmer, no, damn gay.”

“You hitting on me or something? Huh?” Glimmer blustered, pretending she wasn’t flushing as she inexpertly fished for confirmation of her growing hope. “You wanna take me out punk?”

Catra giggled, high pitched and squeaky before trying to put on that imperious mask she’d worn the first few weeks they’d known one another. “Are you insinuating that I’m trying to kill you or kiss you? Because yes.”

“Hmmm,” Glimmer hummed as her heart pounded away over their stupid, stupid flirting. Buying herself enough time to not squeal with joy, “It’ll be worth it.”

“...yeah,” Catra said, voice soft as she looked at Glimmer again, “I think it could be very worth the wait.”

Too bad Glimmer had never had patience.

It was freezing ass cold outside when Glimmer hurled a rock at Catra’s apartment window, and then threw another but this time at the _correct_ window after apologizing to an elderly woman who threatened her with a broom for the mistake. She waited a minute before hurling a few more in rapid succession and smirked up at Catra’s surprised face.

“Hey there stranger!” Glimmer waved and held up her electric lunchbox. “I come bearing soup, so open the damn gate!”

“Glimmer?” Catra asked, like she wasn’t sure if she was awake or not.

“Yeah, but if you wait too much longer you can call me Popsicle instead. OPEN. THE. GATE. You brat!”

There was an awful buzzing sound before the ancient gate creaked open like ten thousands souls of the damned were screaming at her. Glimmer had never been one to take a hint so she shouldered by it and went upstairs.

She called through the door, now desensitized to shouting in an apartment building, “I know you can’t let me in so I’m gonna put this down here. Plug it in and press the button and you’ll have fresh made soup in a half hour or less.”

She pulled her mask up and walked down the hall just far enough to wave when Catra poked her head out. Glimmer squinted in confusion as Catra, wearing a mask that had a badly stitched cat mouth on it, almost barreled out of her apartment and ignored the soup completely.

“How many people have you seen and have you gone out in the last two weeks?” Catra demanded, hands on her hips as if she wasn’t wearing some half broken plastic flip flops and a christmas themed fleece onesie.

“Uh, none and no? You said something about-”

It turned out that while Catra was only a scant inch or two (if she was being generous) taller than Glimmer herself, she tucked into her neck with a near practiced ease. She was only shocked for a moment before automatically wrapping her arms around Catra to return the hug.

And holy hell, what a hug! It was fierce and warm and tight, and her brain was turned to mush.

“Fuck, I wish I could kiss you.” Catra grumbled and finally pulled back to step away.

“Uhm. I-uh, I wouldn’t mind!” And then she remembered, you know, the whole health thing. “But I get why not, sooooo, rain check? IOU? I will get my kiss at some point, you can’t take that back!”

Catra laughed, hands lifting towards her face and dropping again. “I won’t, I promise. You wanna join me through the door? Wow, literally just realized how that sounds as I said it.”

“You’re an asshole, but I like you anyways. And sure.”

Glimmer used her coat as a cushion and let Catra spray her with an intense smelling disinfectant, while Melog cried pitifully the whole time because they weren’t including him. And sitting there, in the hallway of an apartment complex she’d never been in before, smelling like cheap alcohol and also smelling the soup cooking on the other side of the door, talking with Catra until her throat hurt...it was perfect.

“I wish this was over so I could just let you in.” Catra sighed heavily, the door at Glimmer’s back shuddered as Catra shifted against it.

“Me too, but hey, you’re worth the wait.”

Because she really, really was.


End file.
